Part Two -- MORE Dog Days of Summer! The Book List Continues

I know school is starting tomorrow, but it is over 100 out there, so I think we are still in the Dog Days of Summer. Funny how I caught Gus reading the book of his namesake earlier today. (It's the only book he reads, but it is a good one!!).

This is a profoundly moving book about family history and the Armenian genocide of 1915. I can't quit thinking about it. The book taught me things I didn't know, took me places I haven't been, and just felt very personal. I have a new author to add to my list (he isn't new, I just haven't read his books). There is one image that the author uses over and over to express the anguish of a little girl's soul that deeply moved me, and -from a literary sense- it was just perfect in its devastating simplicity. Also liked his note at the end, and the author interview (I listened to the book). It sealed the deal on him for me when he mentioned that he was highly anticipating Toni Morrison's book Home that was published after his interview. I love the true melting pot vastness of American writers.

I thought I would be able to post more on vacation, but we went to a heavenly little spot that we discovered was internet free, what a blessing! Things will start to be getting crazy soon with school starting, but it is still so hot that your summer reading time shouldn't quite be over, so I'll go ahead and continue the list, and Gus's reading of the now Classic Lonesome Dove reminds me that next on the list is very important.

4. A Classic!

Whether one that you have read before or one that has been on your reading list for a long time, you should make time to read a classic. Of course, Lonesome Dove would fit the bill nicely, and I actually have it in my audio queue to revisit, but this year I stumbled onto an author that I am sad I only just now found. She is incredible. We've all heard of her because of the movies, but if you haven't read her, you are missing out. I hope she doesn't disappear from the lists, and she won't if you take time to discover her in the original form.

I'll use the book cover we all know --

And here is the Goodreads blurb: In 1921, the year that Baroness Karen Blixen found herself stranded by her divorce on a Kenyan mountain farm, most women in her circumstances would have fled back to civilization.But instead of returning to her native Denmark, the 35-year-old Blixen stayed on and ran the farm.In 1931 coffee prices collapsed and she was forced to leave. She returned to Denmark where she poured her memories into a passionate love letter about the life that would hold her in thrall till the end of her days. OUT OF AFRICA, published in 1937 under the pseudonym of Isak Dinesen, became a classic.

Here are some excerpts:

"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills." That ought to stop you in your tracks. Do you know anyone who can say that? She continues a bit later:

"We grew coffee on my farm. The land was in itself a little too high for coffee, and it was hard work to keep it going; we were never rich on the farm. But a coffee-plantation is a thing that gets hold of you and does not let you go, and there is always something to do on it; you are generally just a little behind with your work. . . . I had six thousand acres of land, and had thus got much spare land besides the coffeee-plantation. PArt of the farm was native forest, and about one thousand acres were squatter's land, what they called their shambas."

Ok fine, maybe this appeals to be because I am a child of the land, can't take it out of my soul if I tried. But read this -- Blixen is incredible at descriptions:

"Whenever you walk amidst the Kikuyu shambas, the first thing that will catch your eye is the hind part of a little old woman raking in her soil, like a picture of an ostrich which buries her head in the sand."

* * *

"Out on Safaris, I had seen a herd of Buffalo, one hundred and twenty-nine of them, come out of the morning mist under a copper sky, one by one, as if the dark and massive, iron-like animals with the mighty horizontally sung horns were not approaching, but were being created before my eyes and sent out as they were finished. "

* * *

"I had time after time watched the pr0gression across the plain of the Giraffe, in their queer, inimitable, vegetative gracefulness, as if it were not a heard of animals but a family of rare, long-stemmed, speckled gigantice flowers slowly advancing."

Okay, I'll stop and leave something for you to discover, but hopefully I made my point. Classics are worthwhile, and you should make it a goal to read at least one a year if not more. They not only preserve the best in written communication, but they have lasted because they have dealt with something that touches many hearts, and typically it is the hard stuff of life.

5. Something Fun! And better yet if it is meaningful and farcical at the same time.

This is a mommy come of age book if there ever was one. It will make you sick but curious, and sympathetic but exasperated all at the same time. It will just about embarrass you for all female American moms while it makes you love them and their young, too. But for the extremes, it might be a pretty fantastic fictional essay on the women of my generation, as we face the banality of life. We have many choices. We can be hormonally lunatic, desperately hiding, snarky and adulterous, a menace to society, or we can get on with our lives and purpose. We can get back to creativity. We can choose men who will not check out of our lives but who help us embrace them. Where Oh where is . . . ? May all the Bernadettes out there find themselves.

I have to be honest with you, this book drove me a little crazy at first, and it will likely drive you nuts, too -- see my status updates:

"I'm so glad this is a book and not my life, I'd be stark raving mad." -- and -- "I just keep thinking, would someone RESCUE this woman! But then I think, grow up and deal with it Bernie! Or, surely there is a whole big plot twist and I am going to find out that the teenager or someone made it all up. I will say, it has me hooked. We'll see if I like the ending."

I finally realized that the book was taking these real mommy situations to the Nth degree, and poking a bit of fun at us, and I settled down and had a ball with it. This book is an award winner and was short listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction (fka the Orange Prize for Fiction).

If you think this video is funny, then you know that this book is right for you!!

6. A Fantasy !

While we are having fun, lets talk fantasy. You must read at least one fantasy in the summer! There is nothing that says escape like reading a fantasy in the summer. This year I found one that is a little different than the rest. It appealed to me for its widely varying elements which are right in the title:

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. The book has multiple elements: Fantasy, historical, cultural, and I really cared about the characters (I've noticed this is a must for me), plus it had the bonus of being magically well written. Great summer read, highly recommend. I'd rate 4.5 if I could.

Here is part of the Goodreads blurb:

An immigrant tale that combines elements of Jewish and Arab folk mythology, Helene Wecker's dazzling debut novel tells the story of two supernatural creatures who arrive separately in New York in 1899.

Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life to by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master—the husband who commissioned her—dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Though he is no longer imprisoned, Ahmad is not entirely free—an unbreakable band of iron around his wrist binds him to the physical world.

Meeting by chance, Chava and Ahmad become unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing nature—until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful threat will soon bring the Golem and the Jinni together again, challenging their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.
Marvelous and compulsively readable, The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.

And the video:

Hope you are enticed, it's a good story and just a different way of exploring some themes that are near and dear to the American heart.

2017 Favorites!

Perhaps a little heavy for a blissful holiday weekend, but here in America don't we owe our memories to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for us? And how best to revere them than by sitting down with a little book that packs a punch ...

I completely support and respect this. Whether you love Bush or weren't a fan, as an American you owe it to these wounded warriors to hear their stories that he is telling. Bravo all of you, and Thank You for everything you've done for m...

So wonderful. I love you even more now, Trevor Noah, especially because you made your mom the star. A must read. And I picked up an excellent parenting tip that totally works. (No spoiler here-it's the Write me a letter argument, love it...

Very interesting. Not explainable. Not for the faint of heart.
***I think I finally have just a few words for this book. It is to be visited and revisited. I'm a huge fan of audio and much of the time will both listen and read a book. W...

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A Note on Ratings

You will notice that I have a number of high ratings for my 20-- Favorites list. I do really enjoy books. I also believe we are all a little stingy with our ratings. It is very hard to write a good book! So if a book is well written, resonates with me, and has a satisfying ending (not meaning happy but right), then I rate the book a 5 star rating. If I loved the book, but it was missing one of these, then I rate it a 4. Enjoyed the book but found some real literary flaws, a 3, OR just found the book ok, even if well written, also a 3. In other words, if I only come across one 5 star a year, heavens I'll just have to find another hobby. Take care with your ratings, and, PLEASE, go ahead and give a 5 if it meets all your standards. It's ok to love that book, even if it is not the very very very best book ever! Then again, if you have a negative reaction to it, share your opinion, you are entitled. And that's all I have to say about that.